9th edition is on the way!

[Karantu]

One thing they did finally reveal is the power level of units, and from a quick glance it doesn't seem that power levels are getting a global increase. In other words, we should be relatively safe to do some early list building and planning for Crusade. At least enough so that we can roughly guess which models to prep for 9th. I'll might start 9th with power levels but personally I'd prefer switching to points as soon as possible. I'm not sure what their release schedule is going to be like for that information though.

[The Other Dave]

Eh, especially if they're going to keep PL updated I'm hoping to stick to power level, but that's probably a "philosophy of wargaming" thing - I just don't think the mechanics of 40K require or support the kind of fine granularity that "a squad of 7 plague marines with a guy with a blight launcher (177 points) is 1.7% more effective on the tabletop than one with a plague belcher (174 points)" suggests, you know? I mean, I'm more or less thinking I'll stick to Crusade entirely, which explicitly uses PL, but we'll see what shakes out - it's not a hill I'm going to die on.

[Karantu]

Yeah it's far too early to decide right now but the whole power level thing varies wildly depending on which faction you're talking about. For factions like Tau where key units have a ton of upgrade options, it punishes you for choosing the cheaper options. For example a 12PL Crisis suit squad with flamers is 126pts but if you give them Cyclic Ion Blasters they shoot up to 234pts. The same thing should apply to units that can pick special weapons for each model such as Terminators and Devastators. Either way even with that said, on the scale that Combat Patrol is meant to be played the difference is probably relatively inconsequential so I don't mind using PL for Combat Patrol.

[Jye Nicolson]

I'm here for all Crusade All the Time but I'll be very curious to see how Requisition Points plays out exactly. Min/maxing a combat patrol is annoying, I might prefer to go in with a weird underpowered team designed to form an experienced nucleus for the long term force.

OTOH that might get Ragnar killed leading to Ragnara, Ragnarr, Rognar and Raggey Ragtimes McRaggles the 3rd.

[The Other Dave]

Pre-order confirmed for July 11, so launch on the 25th. That's pretty girigiri for (if*) games day is on the 26th, heh.

*I forgot to ask Kondo-san when the next games day was. Did anyone confirm?

[Karantu]

Oh boy, my prediction before I even saw any rumours were pretty spot on. I should go buy some lottery tickets or something. Lets just hope I'm right about the price too and not the rumours that say its going to cost as much as the Necromunda box set (40,000yen). If I'm remembering correctly, next game day is on the 26th, but I'm not entirely sure. Also, the Warhammer Community twitter account has confirmed that the rule book will also be released separately at the same time. I haven't seen anything about the app yet though. If its just the physical rule book, it might be a little tricky getting it by the 26th.

edit:Woops, I accidentally dropped this link I found on reddit, I hope it's not too important.
So I guess the crusade is on.

[Jye Nicolson]

The leaks are pouring out everywhere, and I've been keenest about Crusade.

It looks good.

Basically you can keep upgrading your Crusade forever, and your troops can get lots of upgrades (though Named characters can't, and don't suffer injuries so no Raggles McRaggey Raggirsdottir XXI). Both players get a Requisition Point each game, units will get at least 1 XP
and maybe more based on what they did (though they can lose it if if they're taken out, roll a 1 and opt to not take an injury), so yes every game is a good game to play. Unlike Warcry you can't have a higher PL total than your opponent (or at least you obey mission rules, no reason they couldn't have an imbalanced mission), but if you take a more upgraded team, your opponent gets bonus CP.

Missions give various Crusade bonuses to the winner, though that shouldn't cause snowballs as upgrading the hell out of your force will just lead to giving your opponents a bunch of bonus CP, so should end up swings and roundabouts. Haven't seen anything like Warcry quests yet though, so I don't *think* we'll have anything like convergences, no reason they couldn't put that stuff in Codexes though.

I'm pretty excited, I think there's upsides to playing big games (lots of XP! Use your toys!) and little games (fast RP, will work well for me if I want to add Wolves, Sisters, Scythes and Inquisitors to the same Crusade)

[Jye Nicolson]

That does mean that you really do have to squeeze into 25PL every time for Combat Patrols. That's a real headache for Wolves, maybe Sisters will have to do most of the work for me there

[The Other Dave]

I was pleased to find expanding to 50PL won't be particularly onerous for my Dusk Raiders, and it'll still be a pleasantly compact force, so I probably won't be too violently opposed to games of that size.

I wonder if GW will be selling just the kill-team-sized battle boards... Mixing and matching my Kill Team and WarCry boards last weekend was aesthetically sub-optimal, heh.

[Jye Nicolson]

I wonder if GW will be selling just the kill-team-sized battle boards... Mixing and matching my Kill Team and WarCry boards last weekend was aesthetically sub-optimal, heh.

I think we'll see 40k or combined branding killzones.

I did go through with my threat to get the Warcry box in nihongo, so I'll have two Warcry boards, plus umpteen Kill Team boards once I get back out to Tajimi where my friend is kindly storing them. I should be able to bring aesthetically matching extras to future game days.

Mildly salty that my new mousemat objective zone markers just got squatted by 40mm though